Statoil Evacuates North Sea Platform

“Unstable” North Sea Oil Well Prompts Evacuation

Norway’s Statoil said it had evacuated the Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea because well pressure fluctuation disabled a valve designed to prevent a blowout.

“There are no leaks and no injuries. The situation on the platform is stable and we are planning for further operations to normalize the situation.” Statoil spokesman said, Reuters reported.

Completed in 1990, Gullfaks C platform sits some 217 meters below the surface, with a total height of about 380 meters.

Gullfaks C (GFC). Source: Petroleum Safety Authority Norway.

Gullfaks is an oil and gas field in the Tampen area of the North Sea which produces about 80,000 barrels of oil per day (previously 250,000bpd) and 400 million cubic meters of gas annually.

Environmental group Bellona called the incident as “very critical.”

“They have a situation in which there is uncontrolled pressure from the well, one of the barriers is gone and one barrier is left,” said Frederic Hauge, head of Bellona, one of the leading environmentalist groups in Norway.

“Uncontrolled pressure is very serious and has the capability of being a large accident,” he said, adding that in the first quarter of 2010, eight incidents took place in the Norwegian oil industry that had “large scale potential.”

“That is very serious,” Hauge said. “Regulatory work in Norway may look nice from outside, but we have a lot of security issues in the Norwegian industry,” he said. More…

Related Links:

• Oil Disasters

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Serial No 1,749. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

Welcome to Anthropogenic Hell 2010

Man-made Hell’s Fury – Just Wait and See …

Warmest April Global Temperature Ever Recorded: NOAA

2010 January-April Also Warmest on Record

As of posting, global temperatures in some parts of world are about 30 to 45 days ahead of their seasonal norms.

April 2010 and the period from January-April recorded the warmest combined global land and ocean surface temperature, NOAA said. “Additionally, last month’s average ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for any April, and the global land surface temperature was the third warmest on record.”

(Credit: NOAA) - Click image to enlarge.

The following is a summary of highlights from NOAA’s Temperature Report:

• At 58.1°F (14.5°C), the combined April global land and ocean average surface temperature was the warmest on record,  1.37°F (0.76°C) above the 20th century average of 56.7°F (13.7°C).

• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the warmest on record for January-April at 56.0°F (13.3°C), which is 1.24°F (0.69°C) above the 20th century average.
• The global ocean surface temperature was 1.03°F (0.57°C) above the 20th century average of 60.9°F (16.0°C) and the warmest on record for April. The warmth was most pronounced in the equatorial portions of the major oceans, especially the Atlantic.
• The global land surface temperature was 2.32°F (1.29°C) above the 20th century average of 46.5 °F (8.1°C) — the third warmest on record for April. Warmer-than-normal conditions dominated the globe, with the most prominent warmth in Canada, Alaska, the eastern United States, Australia, South Asia, northern Africa and northern Russia. Cooler-than-normal places included Mongolia, Argentina, far eastern Russia, the western contiguous United States and most of China.
• El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weakened in April, as sea-surface temperature anomalies decreased across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The weakening contributed significantly to the warmth observed in the tropical belt and the warmth of the overall ocean temperature for April. According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, El Niño is expected to continue through June.

Other Heat-Related Highlights

• Arctic ice cover fell below normal for the 11th consecutive April, covering about 5.7 million square miles (14.7 million square kilometers). This is 2.1 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent and the 15th smallest April extent since records began in 1979. It was, however, the largest April Arctic sea ice extent since 2001.
  

  (Credit: NOAA) - Click image to enlarge.

• Antarctic sea ice extent in April was 0.3 percent below the 1979-2000 average.
• Snow cover extent was the fourth-lowest on record (since 1967), and below the 1967-2010 average for the Northern Hemisphere for the seventh consecutive April. Warmer-than-normal conditions over North America, Europe and parts of Russia contributed to less snow.
• The North American snow cover extent for April was the smallest on record for April. It also was the largest negative anomaly, meaning difference below the long-term average, on record for any month.
• Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania had their warmest 12-month period since their records began.
• According to the Beijing Climate Center, China experienced its coolest April since 1961. Liaoning, Jilin and Shandong had their coolest April on record. Hebei, Anhui and Jiangsu had their second coolest April since records began in 1951.
• China recorded its wettest April 36 years  and Tibet had its wettest ever April on record in 59 years. Germany had its second-driest April on record since 109 years,  behind 2007, German Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) said.

Related Links:

• Ocean Accumulated Significant Heat Content Since 1993
• Greenland Glacier Slides Much Faster in Summer
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change (Part II)
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change Despite Dinosaurs

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Serial No 1,748. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).